Archives: Atlas Obscuras

B-17 Bomber Crash Site

Discover B-17 Bomber Crash Site in Bellvue, Colorado: The wreckage of a World War II bomber is hidden high in the Colorado wilderness.

Project Diana Site

Discover Project Diana Site in Wall Township, New Jersey: The first dish to bounce radio signals off the Moon, it was the forerunner to the U.S. Space Program.

Frederick Douglass’s House, Cedar Hill

Discover Frederick Douglass's House, Cedar Hill in Washington, D.C.: The famous abolitionist’s preserved estate is one of Washington's finest monuments to its great Black citizens.

Vila Maria Zélia

Discover Vila Maria Zélia in São Paulo, Brazil: The first model village in Brazil, built in 1917 to house workers at the jute sack factory.

Henry the Lion Monument Buttocks

Discover Henry the Lion Monument in Schwerin, Germany: A city's controversial tribute to its founder depicts townspeople flashing their bare behinds.

Dickens Victorian Village

Discover Dickens Victorian Village in Cambridge, Ohio: Hundreds of 19th-century characters descend upon an Ohio town every autumn.

West Virginia State Farm Museum

Discover West Virginia State Farm Museum in Point Pleasant, West Virginia: The farming museum contains an extensive taxidermy collection, including the world's largest stuffed horse.

Underground Project 131

Discover Underground Project 131 in Xianning Shi, China: This Cold War–era underground city includes offices for Mao Zedong and Lin Biao.

Tapton House

Discover Tapton House in Chesterfield, England: The former home of a railway legend and the site of a gigantic labyrinth.

Lego House

Discover Lego House in Billund, Denmark: An enormous playhouse designed to look like 21 stacked Lego bricks, with another 25 million colorful Legos inside.

Hippo Hardware

Discover Hippo Hardware in Portland, Oregon: No two pieces are exactly the same at Portland's hippo-themed hardware store.

Öndvegissúlur

Discover Öndvegissúlur in Selfoss, Iceland: A replica of the decorated wooden pillars Viking sailors threw overboard when finding new places to establish a settlement.

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i
To represent a masterpiece of human creative genius. 261 ii
To exhibit an important interchange of human values, over a span of time or within a cultural area of the world, on developments in architecture or technology, monumental arts, town-planning or landscape design. 480 iii
To bear a unique or at least exceptional testimony to a cultural tradition or to a civilization which is living or which has disappeared. 514 iv
To be an outstanding example of a type of building, architectural or technological ensemble or landscape which illustrates (a) significant stage(s) in human history. 642 ix
To be outstanding examples representing significant on-going ecological and biological processes in the evolution and development of terrestrial, fresh water, coastal and marine ecosystems and communities of plants and animals. 137 v
To be an outstanding example of a traditional human settlement, land-use, or sea-use which is representative of a culture (or cultures), or human interaction with the environment especially when it has become vulnerable under the impact of irreversible change. 172 vi
To be directly or tangibly associated with events or living traditions, with ideas, or with beliefs, with artistic and literary works of outstanding universal significance. (The Committee considers that this criterion should preferably be used in conjunction with other criteria). 256 vii
To contain superlative natural phenomena or areas of exceptional natural beauty and aesthetic importance. 151 viii
To be outstanding examples representing major stages of earth's history, including the record of life, significant on-going geological processes in the development of landforms, or significant geomorphic or physiographic features. 98 x
To contain the most important and significant natural habitats for in-situ conservation of biological diversity, including those containing threatened species of outstanding universal value from the point of view of science or conservation. 168

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